Quality of life and associated factors among patients with epilepsy at specialized hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia; 2019.

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a chronic non-communicable brain disorder and the second most burdensome disease in terms of disability-adjusted life years which is characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures, and a constant threat to the quality of life of the patient. Nearly 80% of people with epilepsy live in low- and middle-income countries and the risk of premature death in people with epilepsy is up to three times higher than for the general population. In many parts of the world, people with epilepsy and their families suffer from stigma and discrimination. This study was aimed to assess the quality of life and associated factors among adult people living with epilepsy using the world health organization quality of life assessment tool. METHODS: Institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted on 419 epileptic patients using a systematic random sampling technique. The data were collected using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. The data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 25 software for further analysis and bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were done to identify factors associated with the dependent variable. The level of significance was declared as P value <0.05. RESULT: A total of 402 epileptic patients with a median age of 28 years were involved in the study. The result of this study was revealed that 47.8% (95% CI: 42%, 52%) of the respondents had poor quality of life. Respondents who were in the middle age group (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.70), lower educational level (AOR = 3.11, 95%CI: 1.35, 7.15), those who had low drug adherence (AOR = 8.36, 95%CI: (2.41, 28.98) comorbid anxiety, (AOR = 3.63, 95% CI: 2.55, 8.42) and depression (AOR = 3.85, 95% CI: 2.16, 6.82) were found to be significantly associated with poor quality of life of epilepsy patients. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that almost one in two epileptic patients had poor quality of life. Age of the respondents, lower educational level, comorbid anxiety and depression, and lower adherence to drugs were significantly associated with poor quality of life. Therefore, health institutions and clinicians should not focus only on the treatment of the disease itself rather they should address diseases' impact on the quality of life of patients.

The applicability of basic preventive measures of the pandemic COVID-19 and associated factors among residents in Guraghe Zone.

INTRODUCTION: Internationally, countries have reacted to the COVID-19 outbreak by introducing key public health non-pharmaceutical interventions to protect vulnerable population groups. In response to COVID-19, the Government of Ethiopia has been taking a series of policy actions beyond public health initiatives alone. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the applicability of basic preventive measures of the pandemic COVID-19 and associated factors among the residents of Guraghe Zone from 18th to 29th September, 2020. METHODS: Community based cross sectional study was conducted at Guraghe Zone from 18th to 29th September, 2020. Systematic random sampling method was applied among the predetermined 634 samples. Variables which had p-value less than 0.25 in bivariate analysis were considered as candidate for multivariable logistic regression model. P-value <0.05 was used as a cutoff point to determine statistical significance in multiple logistic regressions for the final model. RESULT: In this study, 17.7% (95% CI: 14.7, 20.5) of the respondents apply the basic preventive measures towards the prevention of the pandemic COVID-19. In addition, being rural resident (AOR: 4.78,; 95%CI: 2.50, 8.90), being studied grade 1-8 (AOR: 3.70; 95%CI: 1.70, 7.90), being a farmer (AOR: 4.10; 95%CI: 1.25, 13.35), currently not married (AOR: 2.20, 95%CI: 1.24, 4.06), having family size 1-3(AOR: 6.50; 95%CI: 3.21, 3.35), have no diagnosed medical illness (AOR: 6.40; 95%CI: 3.85, 10.83) and having poor knowledge (AOR: 3.50; 95%CI: 1.60, 7.40) were factors which are statistically significant in multivariable logistic regression model. CONCLUSION: Despite the application of preventive measures and vaccine delivery, the applicability of the pandemic COVID-19 preventive measures was too low, which indicate that the Zone is at risk for the infection. Rural residents, those who have lower educational level, farmers, non-marrieds, those who have lower family size, those who have diagnosed medical illnesses and those who have poor knowledge were prone to the infection with the pandemic COVID-19 due to the lower practice of applying the basic preventive measures. In addition, awareness creation should be in practice at all levels of the community especially lower educational classes and rural residents.